Hebrews 12, verse 1. Wherefore, seeing we also are
compassed about, with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us
lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset
us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Let's pray. Our Father, knowing that it is
by your grace and mercy that we are here this evening, we
pray, would you bless the services tonight, Lord? Would you bless
the Word, knowing that it's not going to return unto you void?
Your Word is going to accomplish the purpose for which it was
sent. Lord, would you have mercy tonight and bless the Word to
the salvation of your people? Calling out of sinners, Lord,
we ask and we knock We seek. Lord, we know you're able. Bless
this evening, we pray for Christ's sake. Amen. In Hebrews chapter 11, that great
chapter where the Spirit of God gave evidence of many of God's people that
were called upon to run the race that was set before them. And
Almighty God gave evidence of faith, true, saving faith. Abel, the Scripture says, offered
unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. What was it? By faith,
he knew that without the shedding of blood, there was no remission
of sin. Enoch was translated that he should not see death.
Why? The Scripture says he walked
with God. Noah, when he was warned of God,
that God was going to destroy the world, he moved with fear,
the Scripture says, and prepared an ark. Abraham, when he was
called to go out, leave his country, Leave his parents. Leave. That's what God told him to do.
The Scripture says he obeyed, not knowing where he was going. And in time, Almighty God told
him that He wanted him to offer up his son, his only son, Isaac,
and to offer him unto the Lord for a burnt sacrifice. And the
Scripture says that Abraham went With Isaac, some of his servants
came to the place knowing that he was going up. That boy in
his mind was dead. Isaac was dead. Abraham was resolved. And he told the men that was
with him, he said, y'all stay here. The lad and I are going
to go yonder and we're going to worship God. Sarah received strength, the
Scripture says, to conceive. Because she judged him faithful,
who had promised. The Lord came and told her, he
said, by this time next year, you're going to have a son. She
laughed. But Scripture said she believed
God. Isaac, he blessed Jacob and Esau concerning the things
to come. Jacob, when he was dying, blessed
both the sons of Joseph, and he worshipped, leaning upon the
top of his staff. He knew he was getting ready
to leave this world, and he worshipped God, knowing he was going to
see Him in just a little while. Joseph, when he was dying, gave
commandment concerning his bones. Don't leave my bones in Egypt. takes you out of Egypt, you take
my bones with you." And they did. Moses, the Scripture says,
when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter, and he chose to suffer affliction with the people of
God, he pursued Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king. That is,
when he went back After he had left, Egypt came back 40 years
later. And God told him, He said, you
go back and you tell Pharaoh. A new Pharaoh had come up. You go back and tell Pharaoh,
let my people go. And he did, not fearing the king.
Rahab received the spies with peace. And then we got into the
judges. Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah,
David, Samuel, and the prophets. These examples of faith the scripture
sets forth. They all walked and died in the
faith. Called by God, just like us. People of like passion, just
like us. No different. Just like us. And these people, just like we
do today, they lived in a very real world. And there was real
problems, real obstacles, real hindrances, real trials. But they were called of God,
and though tried and proven, To be faithful, they suffered
under the chastening hand of Almighty God. And they were witnesses. Witnesses of the grace of God. I mean, we think right now about
us today and say, I tell you, I couldn't have gone through
what they did. Yes, you have. Yes, you have. There are many here that have
suffered. for the cause of the gospel,
for the honor of Christ, has taken a stand and made a stand
and said, I'm going to stay right here. I'm going to worship God. That's where God raised up a
church, raised up a pastor. I'm going to stay right here.
Witnesses had seen by faith and experienced the miracle of God's
keeping and sustaining power. And though not at any one time
does it ever appear as though that there's a great many people
in this world, and I know for all practical purposes, Romans
11.5 says there's just a remnant right now. A remnant according
to the election of grace. But the Spirit of God reveals
in these Scriptures that there's a number that no man can number. Thanks be unto God, He can. He
said, I know my own. I know them. I know them by name.
I call them out. I've known them from before the
foundation of the world. Names are written in heaven.
Revelation 5.11 reveals those round about the throne to be
ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands and thousands. saying with a loud voice, worthy
is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and
wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. One of
these days, by the grace of God, we're going to know what that
means. And we're going to understand it as we ought to. And in the
heart of every believer tonight, a longing for that. You say,
oh Lord, if by Your grace I see You, and see You in mercy, as
that song we sang last Sunday, I'll praise You as I ought in
that day. The Lord knows His people, saves
them, keeps them, and they follow Him this life by faith. And according
to the Scriptures, finally going to be received up into glory.
To forever praise and honor and bless Him who is worthy. Worthy. Wherefore, wherefore,
all of those people that we just talked about, looked at and rehearsed
again just for a moment there, wherefore, Seeing we also are
compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us
lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset
us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us."
Now, the departed saints, there in chapter 11, We're called to do what every
child of God regenerated by the grace of God is called to do,
to run with patience the race that is set before Him. That good fight of faith, that
race, this is a warfare. We're to lay hold, the Scripture
says, of eternal life. This race, it begins in regeneration. Until a man or woman is called
out of darkness, they don't know the Lord. They have a heart of
resentment toward Him. They're children of wrath toward
Him. even as others, but when Almighty
God calls them out of darkness, that race is set before them. When I was in high school, I
liked track. I ran track. That's what I liked
to run. And we had two races that I ran,
which was really the same race. I ran the open quarter and the
mile relay. When we would race, you know
how the race is, he'd stagger. The guy on the inside, he's back
here and he'd stagger them out. The guys out on the outside look
like they're ahead, but they've got a larger arc. Just stay in
your lane. Don't get out of your lane. Get
out of your lane, you're disqualified. That race is set before us. It's marked out, predestinated
according to good pleasure of Almighty God unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good
pleasure of His will. Ephesians 1 verse 5 says concerning
God's people, they are accepted in the Beloved. Predestinated. Accepted. Everlastingly loved. Chosen in Christ. It's not like
whenever Jacob sent some presents. You know after Jacob, the Scripture
sets forth how Jacob I talked to Esau. Esau had been out hunting
and starving. And Jacob was making some soup. Lentil soup. And Esau said, give
me some of that. And Jacob said, give me your
birthright. And Esau said, what difference
does it make to me? I'm going to die. He said, you
can have it. Got his birthright. And then
according to the good pleasure of Almighty God, because God
had purposed that Jacob was going to get the blessing. The blessing
always went to the eldest. Esau was the eldest. They were
twin brothers. But Esau was just a few minutes
older than Jacob. Esau, by nature, would get the
blessing, but God had said that Jacob, the elder, was going to
serve the younger. And Jacob was going to get that
blessing. Jacob have I loved. Esau have
I hated. Well, he came in to talk to his
daddy. And his mother told him, she
said, now look, you go in and we'll put some skins on your
arms because your brother's a hairy man. How hairy you are. You put
on one of his coats. I'm going to make you a nice
set of porridge like your daddy likes. You take it in there to
him and you'll get the blessing. And he walks in. You know what
happened. And Isaac says, are you Esau? Jacob said, I am. He said, you have the smell of
Esau, but you sound like Jacob. You sure you're Esau?" He said,
I am. And he blessed him. And later,
Esau came in to get the blessing. He'd been out hunting where his
daddy was going to make him some soup before he came in for the
blessing. But Jacob had already gotten the blessing according
to God's good providence and pleasure and purpose. He came
in, he realized. Jacob had already gotten the
blessing. Now, Jacob had gotten the birthright. He got the blessing. And Esau despised him. Hated
him. Jacob fled according to his mom's
instruction. Now years later, he knows that
Esau is out in front of him. He's coming up to him. And so
what he does, what Jacob does, he sends out an entourage of
people with some gifts. Going to send him some gifts
out there so that whenever Esau gets the gifts, his anger will
be appeased. And he'll accept peradventure.
That's what he said in the book of Genesis. Peradventure. When
I send those gifts out to him, he'll accept those gifts. Then
he'll accept me. Maybe. Maybe peradventure he'll
take that. Turn to Genesis 32. Look at that. I'll just read that one verse.
Genesis 32. Verse 20. This was Jacob's thought. when he sent those gifts out
to his brother. Genesis 32. And say ye moreover, this is
what Jacob is saying to those that
are going to be bringing those gifts to his brother. And say
ye moreover, behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said,
I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward
I will see his face. Peradventure! He will accept
of me. Maybe. Maybe if I can please
Him, if I can send enough gifts, if I can appease His anger, if
I can do enough, then for adventure, He'll accept me. That's what
man by nature thinks concerning salvation. Maybe if I do enough,
maybe if I make enough amends, maybe if I send enough gifts,
maybe if I do enough works, Maybe if I'm sorry enough, maybe if
I read my Bible enough, maybe if I send enough gifts before
God and before God, peradventure, He'll accept me. The soul that's sentenced is
going to die. But when it comes to the acceptance
of God's people in the Lord Jesus Christ, thanks be unto God, He
does not accept us on our merit. He accepts us for Christ's sake. He accepts us for the sake of
His precious Son. Accepted in the Beloved. Accepted in Christ. So therefore,
this race that we're running. Our steps that are ordered by
the Lord according to His wisdom and good pleasure. Let us run
with patience, with perseverance, with enduring, following after,
looking, verse 2 says, which Lord willing, we'll look at next
time, looking unto Jesus, the author, the beginner, and the
finisher, the completer of our faith. Let's consider for just
a moment the instruction of the Holy Spirit of God concerning
our race of faith. Now, every believer is in a race.
I'm going to tell you right now, you're in it. You're in it. Every
believer is in the fight. Every believer is in the war.
We're here. Seeing, we're encompassed about
with so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside every weight, I looked that word weight up.
I told the man earlier, I looked it up. And when I looked it up,
I looked at the meaning, I thought I've missed it. Let me go back
and look it up again. I missed the word. I looked it
up. Every weight, it means one. That's what it means. One. Lay
aside one." Then I realized what he was saying. Lay aside everything
that's number one to you. Everything that's first to you. Everything that is number one.
Everything that is a hindrance. Everything that is a weight.
The Lord will have no other gods before Him. No gods before Him. Whatever is number one, whatever
is that worldly care that stands between you and your worship
of Almighty God, lay it aside. Now, I'll tell you this, Almighty
God is going to leave unbelievers, turn with me to Luke 14, I'm
telling you this, Luke 14, starting in verse 15. Almighty God is
going to leave every unbeliever to their excuses. Luke 14. Every unbeliever will be left
to their excuses on why they'll not hear God, they'll not worship
God. Every unbeliever will be left
to themselves. And they will absolutely be without
excuse. But the Lord will leave them
to themselves. Now listen to this, Luke 14 verse 15. When one of them that sat at
meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is
he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Then said he
unto him, A certain man made a great supper and bade many. sent His servant at supper time
to say to them that were bidding come, for all things are now
ready." Now here's the gospel as it goes forth. It's just preached. We preach the gospel. Almighty
God is going to have to make it a factual mark. I don't know
God's people. I don't know who the elect of
God are. So I preach, go into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature. Preach to every creature. They went out and they said,
Come, all things are now ready. And they all, with one consent,
began to make excuse. The first one said unto him,
I bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it. I
pray thee, have me excused. Another said, I have bought five
yoke of oxen. I go to prove them. I pray thee
have me excused. Another said, I have married
a wife and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came and
showed his Lord these things. Then the master of the house,
being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets
and lanes of the city and bring in hither the poor. The maimed,
the halt, the blind. You know, I think about that
scripture where the Lord said, you go into the cities and whoever
you find that's worthy, worthy. Let me tell you those that are
worthy. Worthy. Not in themselves, but
made so by the grace of God. Here they are. Poor. Those that don't have anything
to buy their salvation. maimed, halt, blind. That's the ones you call. And the servant said, Lord, it's
done as Thou hast commanded, yet there's room. And the Lord
said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges
and compel them to come in, that My house may be filled. For I
say unto you, that none of those men which were bidden shall taste
of My supper." The Lord is going to allow Every man, every woman
that finds the gospel of God's free grace to be repulsive to
them, just say, you know what, I don't have time. I just don't
have time. I'm just too busy. I've just
got stuff to do. Almighty God leave a man to his
excuses. And I'm telling you, the Lord
says, I say unto you, they that were bidden shall not taste of
my supper. Not going. But to His people,
He's not going to leave them to their excuses. God Almighty
is not going to leave His people. Theirs waits. There's weights
and hindrances that we have in this world. And I'm telling you,
I heard Brother Henry say, probably Brother Scott, be careful how
tightly you hold on to something. Because you're going to turn
it loose. You're going to turn it loose.
There are, I know, things in this world that try to steal
our hearts away. Those things that are hindrances
to our walk. What is a hindrance to you may
not be a hindrance to me, and vice versa. But I'll tell you
this, whatever it is, the Spirit of God will let you know. You'll
know. You'll know. You'll say, how
do you know? How will you know? You'll know. You'll know. Romans 14.5 says concerning,
in light of God's Word, let every man be fully persuaded in his
own mind. Await whatever is number one. Whatever is an obstacle concerning
worship. I want to be real careful here.
I want to be careful. There's a lot of people, I know
there's a lot of people in here, a lot of people that have jobs. I want to be real careful. And
I know that a lot of times you have to work. And I'm not talking
about that. I'm talking about when you can
be here. I'm talking about when you can worship God. Hindrances,
cares of this world that take away, steal away, Weights. Number ones. Whatever. Lay aside every weight. One of the indicators, one has
entered the race, is that certain things that may not have ever
exercised his mind before, his conscience before, begins to
do so. Things that were not a hindrance
before are. Now, I can tell you primarily
where it starts. The laying aside of these weights,
these number ones, is in conversion. It's a laying aside of our former
false profession. The Apostle Paul said in Philippians
3, 7, what things were gained to me, Those things I counted
loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, I count all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ my Lord."
You don't have to convince a believer to turn loose of a man-centered,
man-exalting, false free will profession of his faith. You
don't have to convince him of that. He'll lay that aside. He
will lay that aside. What things were gained to me,
those things I count lost. Dung. Lay aside every weight,
every number one. And the sin which doth so easily
beset us, the word beset means to cling to. To surround. To be close to. To be in the
proximity of. The immediate proximity of. That
sin that does so easily beset us. Unbelief. Unbelief. That unbelief that
we struggle with, that's common to all believers. Believers that
are faithfully following after God. All that burden, unbelief,
that grieves the heart of every believer. You say, how can you
be talking about a believer knowing something about unbelief? I tell
you, that father in Mark 9 that came to the Lord, and the disciples
were not able to help him and his son, The Scripture says he
was torn with a dumb spirit. And he sought the Lord for help.
And the Lord helped him. He said to him, concerning his
son, he said, if thou canst believe, if you can, all things are possible
to him that believeth. And that Father answered with
that answer that every believer agrees with, and we quote so
often, He said with tears, Lord, I believe. Help Thou my unbelief. Lord, I believe You. I believe
You. Oh, Lord, help me. Help my unbelief. Let us run with patience. The race that is set before us,
everyone, by the grace of God, has been called out of spiritual
darkness. They've been given life. They've
been given a new heart, a new mind. And they truly know that
there are hindrances. They know that there are hindrances
in their walk. And I'm telling you that a believer
knows. He knows it for sure in his head. And by the grace of God, God
teaches him in his heart. All of these weights, let us
lay aside. How many do we have to lay aside? Every. Lay aside every weight. And the sin which does so easily
surround us, stay in our proximity. Stay next to us. There's an old
man that's still there. An old man of flesh. That old
man that Paul says is that body finds that body of sin within. I know there is in me that is
in my flesh that dwells no good thing. Who shall separate me from the
body of this death? The Lord will, in time. But while
we're here, here's the encouragement from the Spirit of God. This
cloud of witnesses, those that have seen the grace of God, those
that have struggled, Those that have walked. Those that were
called upon to do whatever God Almighty called them to do. Their
walk was not our walk. And our walk was not their walk.
But we all walk by faith. Whatever the Lord has called
us, whatever the race that He has set before us, run it with
patience. Run it with endurance. Asking. Seeking. Lord, help me. Lord,
help me to run. Lord, keep me by Your grace.
Lord, save me. Lord, if You don't save me, I'm
not going to be saved. Lord, and show me. Show me hindrances
that are in my life. Lord, that I must lay aside.
That's an honest believer. Lord, show me. And by Your grace,
help me to lay it aside. And in closing, that verse right
there, as I was reading ahead in the next few verses, you get
down there, verses 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12. Now you're going to
get into chastisements. Trials, chastisements. No chastisement
that's joyous for the present. But it grants, it gives, it rewards. A peaceable fruit of righteousness. Almighty God is going to chasten
His people. Lovingly teach them concerning
these weights that are to be laid aside. How do we lay them
aside? We'll lay them aside. He'll show
us. He'll chasten us. And He chastens
us because we're sons. Because we're children. because
he loves us. He's going to teach us. He's
going to teach us to walk. Lord, help us as we hear these
words. May they be for the honor of
the Lord Jesus Christ and for the good of your sheep.